The Trouble With Firsties
by lizzyrocks.m
Summary: William had rarely seen his mother cry, but now the normally very composed Hermione Granger was an absolute mess as she kissed him goodbye and wished him good luck, having made sure that he was completely prepared for his first year at Hogwarts. Hermione could only be thankful for the fact that his first year would have nothing to do with loose trolls and a teacher with two faces.
1. All Aboard

**I just came up with the plot a few characters. Everything else is J. K. Rowlings**

* * *

William hugged his mother as hard as he possibly dared, not wanting to harm his mum. Neither of them could believe that this moment was finally here, he was finally going to Hogwarts - an event that he both really looked forward to and dreaded, Hermione just dreaded it. They had just put Will's luggage in the baggage carriage and the moment just seemed to be getting closer and closer. Hermione's eyes shined with tears as she returned the hug, never wanting to let her precious boy go but unfortunately the ten minute warning whistle was blown and she had to tear herself away.

"Have you got everything?" She asked, trying to keep the tears in her eyes.

"Ye-"

"If you've found that you have left something at home, let me know and I'll owl it to you as soon I can. Don't want you to-"

"Mum, I'll be fine."

"I know." She sniffed. "I just- I want everything to go fantastically for you." She looked him over, as if she were trying to find any injuries when really she just wanted to reassure herself that he would be okay. He was a little bit taller than average for an eleven year old, with a skinny frame but he couldn't quite be seen as gangly. She looked into caramel eyes so similar to her own; they too held the undeniable look of a thirst for knowledge that she still has to this day. A stray strand of smooth brown hair fell into his face prompting her to tuck it behind his ear, a habit she'd developed when he insisted on having hair down to his shoulders when he was six.

"And it will." He smiled at her, before turning to Ginny and Harry who were saying goodbyes to James. James was currently trying to get his mother to stop kissing him, Albus and Lily laughing hysterically at his embarrassment - not realising that they would go through the exact same treatment when it was their turn to brave the halls of Hogwarts. "Goodbye Uncle Harry." He whispered as he gave him a rather large hug. "Look after Mum for me please, I don't think she'll take me leaving very well."

"I'll look after her," Harry promised, "But I need you to do the same thing for James, Will." Will nodded.

No sooner had he stepped back from the hug was he tackled by Ginny, who then started attacking him with her kisses, not wanting to let him go anymore than Hermione did as he was like a third son to her. "Keep yourself safe, Will." She said when she finally released him, allowing Albus and Lily to then say goodbye and give him a quick hug.

Ron crouched down put his hands on both James's and Will's shoulders. "Listen here you two, I heard that the Malfoy kid is also starting school today and I don't want to hear of the two of you making friends with that lot, alright?" James nodded eagerly, always wanting to impress his Godfather. Will didn't respond and his face gave away no emotion, he'd like to figure out what sort of kids he wanted to become friends with by himself thank you very much.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed exasperatedly before swiping the back of his head with her hand.

Ron ignored her and pulled the two boys into a hug. "Look after yourselves."

Another whistle sounded, signalling five minutes until the train departed. Hermione shrieked, and a few tears managed to escape. "No, no, no, no, no." She cried, trying to control her breathing and not make an absolute scene. She pulled Will out of Ron's grip and gave him a bear hug. "Remember to look after Inky," She glanced over at a black kitten who had just jumped onto and was currently perched on Harry's head, looking very imperious and blending in rather well with his hair, "And don't forget to write to me everyday, I want to know everything." She let go of him and kissed his forehead. "I love you William and I'm going to miss you very very much."

"I love you too, Mum." His eyes quickly flashing to grey and back, alerting Hermione that he was just as nervous as she was.

"You'll be fine." She gave him another quick hug before she picked Inky off Harry's head and handed her to Will whose uniform, money and books for the train journey were packed in the schoolbag hanging off one of his shoulders – Hermione had very helpfully cast an undetectable extension charm on it hoping that it would make going to classes much easier. "Now you'd better get on that train before it goes off," She announced, starting towards the nearest carriage door which James quite happily jumped onto without another word to his parents.

The one minute whistle blew and Will stepped onto the train as well, muttering a quiet goodbye to everyone. Hermione seemed to remember she still had things to tell him so she walked along the platform following his steps inside the train as he went in search of the compartment Teddy, Victoire, Fred II and now James were in.

"Make sure you keep out of trouble," She said loudly to make sure he heard her, "Don't let James drag you into anything!"

"What makes you think it'll be my son who drags him into trouble?" Harry asked indignantly, Hermione just shot him a look, which was all he needed. "Fair point." He muttered.

Hermione turned her attention back to telling Will a few last minute things. Hermione opened her mouth to speak but the sound of the final whistle interrupted and the great steam train lurched forwards before moving at a constant acceleration, Hermione started to run with the train. "Don't let James get expelled OR WORSE GET YOURSELF EXPELLED!" She shouted after it.

Will chuckled when he heard his mother's last sentence and decided to forgo finding the others in favour of leaning out of the open window of the Hogwarts Express to wave to his mother. He spotted the petite figure of his mother waving madly at him through the sea of other hands that were waving from the Hogwarts Express, she had tears running freely down her cheeks; Ginny seemed to be suffering the same fate as Harry was trying to comfort his wife. Ron was waving from behind the three of them, Will could see him glance at Hermione in concern when he noticed the waterfall of tears but continued to wave goodbye. Will was sure that the others would comfort Hermione as soon as they were out of sight, knowing that his Mum would be annoyed if she'd been distracted whilst Will was still in view. As the figures on the platform got smaller and smaller and the crowd dwindled down Will's eyes burned with tears as well but he prevented them from falling by convincing himself he was going to be fine – in reality it was the picture of his mother being a mess that caused his heart to ache. At first he'd found it mildly alarming that the normally so composed Hermione Granger was crying every five seconds during the build up of preparing him for Hogwarts, it wasn't so alarming now but it still made him want to go up and comfort her, this time however he wasn't able to.

When the platform was finally completely out of sight, he brought his torso back into the train and closed the window as he realised he should probably go in search of the others. He didn't have to search for very long though as James bounded along the corridor.

"Will! Where have you been?" He exclaimed when he saw him, Will opened his mouth to reply but James continued. "Follow me, we're in a cabin with Freddy, Vicky and Teddy." They walked into the next carriage and entered the first compartment.

"Hi Will." Everyone greeted as soon as they saw him. In the cabin sat Teddy Lupin who was now starting his fourth year in Hufflepuff, his hair currently a spiky arrangement of really dark blue (almost black). On the other side of him sat Victoire Weasley who was almost the spitting image of her mother and had been sorted into Ravenclaw the year before in her first year, opposite her sat Fred Weasley II – a fellow first year - he currently had a notepad out and was brainstorming everything from ideas for his father's shop to pranks he and James were going to pull on the school.

"Hi guys," Will responded as he took his bag off his shoulder to put it on the overhead rails before sitting in the empty space next to Teddy.

Teddy ruffled his hair. "We were worried about you buddy, thought you hadn't got on the train for a second."

Victoire nodded in agreement, "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine now, but I'm sure it'll overwhelm me at some point." He replied quietly.

"It's not going to overwhelm me!" James pointed proudly at his chest, "I'm going to be perfectly fine and I won't miss my parents once. It'll be nice to be away from my annoying brother and sister, Hogwarts is going to be a walk in the park." He put his arms behind his head and relaxed into the seat.

Victoire sent James disbelieving looks before she leaned in to whisper something in Teddy's ear. Teddy grinned and held out his hand for Victoire to shake. "You're on." He whispered in reply.

They sat there for a good half an hour chatting about this and that - James, Fred and Will asking the two older children everything about Hogwarts – before Will suddenly gasped in alarm.

"Inky!" He said as his eyes went wide when he realised he had no idea where the cat was.

"Bugger…" James mumbled.

"Don't worry Bud, Inky will still be on the train. Where was the last place you saw her?" Teddy asked, putting a reassuring hand on his back as Will slumped forward with his head in his hands, worrying about his cat.

"I put her down when I leaned out the window to wave goodbye to Mum." He said glumly. "We were still next to the platform and the train was still moving pretty slowly… It's completely possible that she jumped from the train onto the platform."

"She's a smart cat Will, it's pretty unlikely that she'd have done that." He paused. "Look the best thing for you to do is to go out and look for her; I'll help you look for her." He stood up and headed towards the door, which Victoire was already leaning against – ready to open and help look for Inky. James and Fred opted for staying inside the cabin in case someone decided to take it over or in case Inky made her way over. The three of the them decided to split up, Will went right heading towards the back of the train was and the other two headed left to the front of the train where there were also more carriages to cover.


	2. Search Party

**All rights to J. K. Rowling. Plot and characters I made up I claim though**

* * *

William reached the end of the first carriage very frustrated; so far the students had laughed and sent him on his way instead of helping him. He had turned up at each cabin optimistic that the students would treat him more sympathetically, now however he was cursing himself for being so naïve. He continued into the second carriage not really looking where he was going as his eyes were cast down, not at all aware of his surroundings. That is until he collided with another student and the air was punched out of both of their lungs as they both fell backwards onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry." Will said at the same time the boy opposite him asked, "Are you alright?" They chuckled and stood up brushing the dust off themselves. The boy standing opposite him was a very similar height, thin but also couldn't be seen as gangly. He had this air of confidence that surrounded him but he didn't seem arrogant. His hair was currently gelled back over his head and a very light shade of blonde, his eyes were a silvery blue and his skin was so pale he almost looked sick.

"Sorry," Will repeated, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's alright." The platinum haired boy said cheerfully. "I wasn't really looking either… Are you alright? You seem quite distracted."

"I'm looking for my cat," Will said sorrowfully, "I put her down to wave goodbye to my mum and I don't know where she's gone."

The boy frowned before putting a reassuring smile on his face. "I'll help you find her, don't worry. And I'll get my friends to help, let's go get them." He said walking along the corridor and a few cabins down, he opened the door to three more boys and two girls. "I'm Scorpius by the way, and this is Dante," he pointed at a dark skinned boy closest to the door who gave him a curt nod, "the girl sandwiched between Dante and Henry is Velma," Velma gave him a small smile and Henry waved, "and on the other side we have Elisabeth and Philippe. We're all starting our first year." Scorpius grinned.

"Hello I'm William, but most people call me Will. I'm also starting my first year."

"Will's lost his cat, so we're going to help him find her." Scorpius informed the others; the girls stood up immediately and started going on about the 'poor cat' and how Will must be 'worried sick'.

Dante eyed Will with his arms and legs crossed, making no motion that he was going to get up. "That cat means that much to you?"

"Hey!" Henry cried indignantly.

Will and the girls gave him an incredulous look. "Of course she means that much to me, Inky was an early birthday present from my mother. And even if she didn't mean that much to me, I can't exactly go around not worrying that there's a cat that might be in danger." William threw his hands around to emphasise his point.

Dante scoffed, "That's Gryffindor and Hufflepuff talk." William clenched his hands, he wasn't sure he liked Dante.

"Hey!" Henry cried indignantly.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Scorpius quickly said trying to prevent an argument from starting, shooting Dante a glare. "Dante are you going to help or not?"

Dante nodded in response, "It can't hurt to have another set of eyes."

"What does Inky look like?" Velma asked, smiling up at him. Velma was about half a head shorter than Will with dark blonde hair that fell down her back in smooth ringlets; her eyes were pools of the clearest blue seas.

"She's a completely black kitten, no spots, no patches. And she's about the same length as our charms book." Will said simply.

"Oh she sounds adorable." Elisabeth squealed, darting out the door to find this cute kitten pulling Velma with her. Elisabeth was almost Velma's opposite; she was quite a petite girl with straight black hair, grey eyes and a slightly puggish nose that actually suited her.

"Who wants to bet that the girls fall in love with Will because of his cat?" Henry chuckled as he made his way out of the cabin as well. Philippe and Dante followed after him, already talking about outlines of the bet.

"Do you want to check the luggage carriage?" Scorpius asked as they both headed towards the back of the train, Philippe and the others were in front of them but disappeared into the next cabin to ask about Inky, allowing the two boys to overtake them.

"Why are you helping me?" Will asked after they'd walked into the next carriage. "You're actually the first student to help and I went past about fifty."

"You seemed upset and…" Scorpius paused and bit his lip; "I wanted to see if I could make a friend by myself, being nice seemed like a good place to start." Will looked at him questioningly. "The others are children of my parents' mates, we've all grown up together and it's kind of expected of us to get along and be friendly. Velma is actually my first cousin, and aside from Dante I'm pretty sure I'm distantly related to the others through years of inbreeding in the Wizarding families."

Will smiled, "Well thank you, and you've made a good start." Scorpius beamed at him. "I understand that feeling of wanting to make a friend by yourself." Will admitted which Scorpius responded to with a sceptical look. "No, really I do! The only friends I have are the children, nieces and nephews of my Mum's best friends. Sure, I did go to a Muggle school before this but they all thought I was weird."

"You went to a Muggle school? Are you a muggleborn?"

Will shook his head. "I'm a halfblood. My Mum's a muggleborn, she thought it was important that I learn the basics of Muggle education as well."

"What did your father think about it?"

"My father isn't in the picture."

"Oh." Scorpius said simply, both of them went silent for a minute, as neither of them knew what to say. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, it was great when I wasn't getting picked on."

"You were bullied?"

"Not at first, when I was younger every kid believed in magic so when I did some accidental magic everyone would think it was amazing. But those beliefs soon faded from the Muggle kids as we got older so I was then seen as a freak whenever any accidental magic happened."

Scorpius frowned, "Hopefully you'll find it better at Hogwarts, we're all the same here."

"Yeah." Will cleared his throat. "Is this the baggage carriage?" They stopped in front of the locked door.

"Yes… I don't see how a cat could've opened the door but for all we know Inky has magical powers." He grinned. "She doesn't have magical powers, does she?"

Will laughed, "No, she's just a normal cat." He sighed, "Guess we'd better head back, there's no way she would have opened that. Goodness, I don't even know if I could open that… it looks so heavy and rusty." Scorpius chuckled.

Just as they reached Scorpius's and the other's cabin, a loud voice could be heard coming from the next carriage over along with the sound of people running. "WE'VE FOUND HER!"

Scorpius looked very confused, "That sounded like Velma… but I've never heard her be that loud. Ever. She's normally very quiet."

Velma and Elisabeth bounded through the door with Inky in Velma's hands. "We found her." Velma repeated.

Will grinned, "Thank you so much!" He picked Inky out of Velma's hands and scratched her under the chin, glad that she was alright. "Where did you find her?" He asked as they all went into the cabin.

"She was hiding underneath the Trolley Lady's cart. Velma and I were stopping to get a pumpkin pasty when we heard a meow come from within the sweets, which we thought was very odd so we asked if we could look at some of the sweets that currently weren't on display. The Trolley Lady was quite shocked to see Inky munching on some blueberry mice." Elisabeth replied.

"I didn't know cats could have sweets." Velma said thoughtfully.

"They can't." Will grimaced.

"Oh dear, is she going to be alright?" Elisabeth asked.

"I hope so, blueberries aren't actually poisonous to cats but they don't like them very much." Will sighed, "We'll just have to wait and see." The girls looked at Inky wistfully, Will chuckled when he saw the look. "Do you want to play with her?" The girls nodded eagerly and giggled when Will passed Inky to them.

Dante, Philippe and Henry returned shortly after Velma and Elisabeth started playing with the midnight kitten, claiming that they heard Velma's shouts from several carriages away. Velma just stuck out her tongue at that comment. They sat there talking for several hours and Will discovered that Dante wasn't actually that bad, he just didn't have that much attachment to things he owned and tended to take them for granted. When a prefect walked past and told them they should get changed into their uniforms, Will shot up from his seat.

"Oh no! I didn't tell the others we'd found Inky, they might still be searching for all I know." Henry and Philippe laughed into their hands, Dante just shook his head in amusement. Elisabeth handed Inky to him. "I'll see you guys at the sorting; thank you so much for helping me."

"Bye Will!" They all called out as he rushed out the door, back to the compartment where James and the others were.

Will stumbled into the compartment. "There you are Will!" Teddy grinned at him.

"I found Inky… Sorry I didn't tell you sooner." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"That's alright," Victoire beamed happy to see the cat was in one piece, "We assumed you'd found her when we heard someone shout 'WE FOUND HER' a few hours ago."

"I take it you made some new friends?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah, I think I did." Will smiled.


	3. The Sorting Hat

**Characters I made up and the plot I lay claim to, everything else goes to J. K. Rowling**

* * *

The Great Hall clapped as the Sorting Hat delivered its song, as it does every year, and the first years who'd never seen or heard of such an object before gaped at it in wonder. When the noise died down Neville Longbottom stepped forwards to tell the first years what was going to happen next.

"I was delighted to see so many looks of wonder from you lot just then… when the Hat sang, you'll enjoy Hogwarts very much. Now I'm going read everyone's name from this list…" Will drowned out the sound of Professor Longbottom as he'd heard what was going to happen from his Mum. He stared at the Sorting Hat that was decidedly looking deceivingly innocent just sitting there eying them from his stool. The shabby, threadbare, dirty hat seemed to be trying to get a glimpse into their heads before they even touched the thing. Will felt someone elbow his side and turned to see Fred leaning in to talk quietly.

"Stop staring at the hat, mate"

James laughed from Will's other side. "Yeah, you'll burn a hole in it if you keep it up and then the dirty old thing might end up not sorting us into Gryffindor. That would be the start of the world going to pot – we were born Gryffindors mate."

"How can you be so sure?" Will asked, astounded by James's continuous insistence that all of them are without a doubt Gryffindors.

James lifted his hand and started counting the reasons on his fingers. "For one, our parents are Gryffindors. Second, we were raised by Gryffindors. Three, we're brave, daring, chivalrous and every other Gryffindor trait."

Will bit his lip, not totally convinced of James's argument but nodded and gave them what he hoped to be a reassuring smile, however it was more than likely to have been a grimace.

"There you go," Fred beamed at him, "Nothing to worry about."

"Will you lot keep it down?" A girl hushed from behind them. "The professor is about to start calling out names and I'd really rather not miss mine."

The three boys turned to see a haughty looking girl with black curly hair glaring at them. James cocked an eyebrow at her, seemingly unimpressed with the fact the girl had shushed them. "They call you up alphabetically using your last name." He informed her. "What's your name?"

"Cashlin McLaggen." She replied. "I'm the daughter of Cormac and Romilda McLaggen, although she was formally known as Romilda Vane. And you are?"

"James Potter."

Cashlin Mclaggen's eyes grew to the size of UFOs. "Harry and Ginny Potter's eldest son?" James nodded as she then turned to Fred. "You must be Fred Weasley II then, George and Angelina Weasley's son?"

Fred's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes… how- why do you know all this?"

"Well it's not exactly like your families aren't famous… and I made it my business to know everything about everyone who's anyone in our year – making friends with the right people and whatnot." She paused, clearly having forgotten about wanting to listen to Professor Longbottom calling out names. She frowned when she looked at Will. "I don't know who you are though…"

"I'm nobody important." Will said quickly, causing Fred to look at him curiously and James to look utterly bewildered.

"What on earth do you me-" James asked before Will shushed him.

"Shhh. My name will be called out soon – I can't miss it."

The four turned their attention back to the front of the hall just in time for Professor Longbottom to call out "Flint, Elisabeth!"

Cashlin leaned forwards and whispered, "That's the daughter of Marcus Flint and Pansy Parkinson."

James's lip curled up in disgust. "A Slytherin then?" He sneered. Sure enough the hat called out Slytherin almost as soon as James had said this.

"She's actually really nice." William said quietly next to James, but James didn't hear him as Professor Longbottom shouted another name.

"Goyle, Philippe!"

"Gregory Goyle and Adalacia Goyle, it was an arranged marriage between the two. She's some French pureblood who was the year below him at Beauxbatons." Cashlin paused. "Thank Merlin he didn't inherit any of his father's looks. He's gorgeous." Cashlin's eyes seemed to be ogling the tall, athletic-looking, dark blonde haired boy as he sat down and awaited his fate.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Granger, William!" William's eyes seemed to go through all the colours of the rainbow when he heard his name being called out.

"You got this, mate." Fred whispered encouragingly.

"See you on the Gryffindor table mate." James smiled at him.

"Wait, are you related to Hermione Granger?" Cashlin asked in wonder.

Will ignored her and walked up to the front of the Hall. Neville Longbottom smiled and winked at the boy as he sat down.

"Good luck Will."

"Thanks Neville." Will murmured as the hat was put over his head. All of a sudden the world around him seemed to fade into background noise – as if someone had put earmuffs over his ears.

"Hmmmm, you're very much like your mother, aren't you?" A voice whispered in his mind. "Lots of Ravenclaw smarts, but not as much Gryffindor in you as there was in her… Yes, you've got a bit of Slytherin in you – your father possibly, shame you don't know anything about him for me to take into account." The hat seemed to wonder to itself.

Will's eyes widened. _What?_ He asked the hat.

"Yes, you'd do well in Slytherin – fit in better, quiet but clever, determined and resourceful. They'll look after you there."

 _I really don't think that's right! There's no way I'd do well in Slytherin._ Will panicked.

"I'm never wrong."

 _Mum says that you are wrong quite often, actually, you just refuse to admit it._

"SLYTHERIN!"

William lost control over the thing he'd mastered since he was a baby the second he heard the Hat's decision. His widened and terrified eyes turned a stormy grey, his brown hair faded into a wavy, platinum mop of hair. His complexion turned a deathly pale – although that was actually more from shock. Neville lifted the hat off Will's head and the sound of the Hall around him flooded into his ears. Whispers of a metamorphagus and words of shock about a relative of Hermione Granger being sorted into Slytherin could be heard. He felt a nudge on his shoulder and turned to see Neville gesturing to the Slytherin table where Elisabeth and Philippe were waving at him. He felt slightly better at the sight of the two first years looking so happy that he would be joining them. Moulding his features back to the ones that resemble his mother so much, Will stood up and walked over towards his new house table, catching a glimpse of the looks of disappointment and sadness on Fred and James's faces.

James caught the look of slight helplessness that Will had sent his way when he got off the stool, he felt bad for his friend who would now have to survive the rest of his school life in a pit of snakes. Seeing him sit down with the Flint girl and Goyle boy, James poked Cashlin wanting information.

"McLaggen, who is likely to join the crowd Will is currently sitting with?" He asked.

Cashlin glanced at Will and then turned back to James. "Those are Scorpius Malfoy's best friends, Draco and Astoria Malfoy's son. Velma Nott is likely to join them – she's Theodore and Daphne Nott's daughter and Scorpius's cousin. Dante Zabini is in that group – Blaise and Esmerelda Zabini's son." James frowned not liking the sound of classmates he'd never met and therefore couldn't really judge. Seeing this look of disapproval Cashlin hastily add, "Henry Rivers will be there as well – Oliver and Flora Rivers's son, she may have been a Carrow but Oliver Rivers was in Hufflepuff so Henry probably isn't so bad."

"I guess…" James muttered, a plan forming in his head.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Quite a few of students sent glares into the back of Scorpius's head as he walked forward, everyone knew what the Malfoy family had done during the war – although few of them knew that Narcissa and Draco Malfoy had helped Harry Potter.

"SLYTHERIN!" Scorpius looked relieved as he got up and walked over to his friends.

"McLaggen, Cashlin!"

Cashlin grinned when she turned to face Fred and James. "My turn!" She beamed.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat announced after a few minutes of debating.

"Nott, Velma!"

"RAVENCLAW!" It did not go unnoticed that Scorpius looked decidedly sad that she wasn't going to be joining them in Slytherin, but smiled at the witch nonetheless and gave her a big thumbs up.

Will watched in silence when he saw James walk towards the blasted hat when his name had been called out – unlike the rest of the hall who were cheering on Harry Potter's son. As soon as the hat had been placed on his head, Will noticed that James seemed to be chanting a word over and over again. James was looking straight at Will whilst he was chanting this word over and over, and it wasn't until right before the hat shouted out James's house did Will work out what he was chanting. Slytherin.

"GRYFFINDOR!" James scowled at the announcement and shot an apologetic look at Will before he trudged over to the Gryffindor table. James's dreams of Will, Fred and himself being the three musketeers were smashed in an instant.

"Rivers, Henry!"

"RAVENCLAW!" Scorpius seemed to look slightly happier knowing that his cousin would have a friend with her in Ravenclaw. Will looked over Elisabeth's shoulder to see that Velma had stood up and was cheering for Henry.

Soon after many names were called out, Professor Longbottom was nearing the end of the list and therefore the end of the alphabet.

"Weasley, Fred!" Will noticed that Fred seemed to look torn as the hat was placed on his head. Will caught Fred's eyes and nodded at him with a small sad smile on his face, Fred returned the look with a small sad smile of his own. Seconds later, the hat had made his decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Zabini, Dante."

Similar to Draco Malfoy all those years ago, the hat barely touched Dante's head before it screamed "SLYTHERIN!"

Dante strolled over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Scorpius. "What's got you so glum, Will? Slytherin isn't the worst place to be sorted." Will didn't respond.

"He hasn't said a word since he's been sorted." Elisabeth informed them.

"You know Granger, it's considered rude not to answer someone when they're talking to you." Will looked at Dante surprised and mildly amused. "So I'll repeat my question, what's got you so glum?"

Will sighed. "Fred, James and I have been dreaming of being in the same house – specifically Gryffindor – since we were told about Hogwarts. I'm not really sure what to expect anymore."

The others all nodded in understanding. "We expected to stay together as well," Elisabeth explained, "Now what ever shall I do without Velma?" She asked dramatically, causing several chuckles to escape the boys.

"So you're a metamorphagus?" Scorpius asked.

Will nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I get it from my father's family as my Mum was the first witch in hers. My friend Teddy is one as well, he's some sort of cousin of yours I think Scorpius."

"And you're related to Hermione Granger?" Philippe asked, impressed.

"Yeah," Will sucked in a breath and bit his lip, "She's my mum."

"Your dad a muggle?" Dante asked.

"Probably not if he has metamorpagus genes, don't you think Dante?" Scorpius drawled.

Will agreed, "I don't actually know anything about my father but I'm pretty sure he was either a pureblood or a halfblood seeing how I can do this," Will changed his nose into a wolf's snout.

"Mr Granger," A loud voice cried out from the front of the Hall, Will and the others looked up to see the Headmistress, the staff table and the entire student body looking at them. "Would you be so kind as to give me your attention?" Headmistress McGonagall asked, raising an eyebrow.

Will quickly changed his nose back to a human looking one. "Yes. Sorry, Professor." Dante and Philippe were forced to stifle a laugh behind their hands when they saw the unimpressed face of Professor McGonagall.

Once the Headmistress had finished her speech and the food had appeared – which had caused all first years to gape even if they had known about it – they went straight back to talking and laughing.

"So is that what you actually look like?" Philippe asked, pointing at him with his fork as he tucked into some roast lamb.

William paused and seemed to be debating with himself, before he finally shook his head. "No," He admitted slowly before hastily adding, "But you can't tell Fred and James! They've thought this is what I actually look like since we met, and I'm not changing that."

"You guys didn't… ummm what's the word I'm looking for... automatically meet when one of you was born?" Scorpius asked.

"No… I was born in France, and Mum and I didn't move back to the UK till I was almost four, by that time I had already decided that this was my favourite look. And I rarely change into my… biological looks so they have no idea." He looked at them all seriously. "Please don't tell them."

"We won't tell anybody, isn't that right boys?" Elisabeth announced, the boys nodded their heads vigorously.

"So why are you telling us?" Philippe asked.

"I'm going to be sharing a dorm with you lot for the next seven years, I'm bound to slip up at some point." Will pointed out.

"You going to show us what you really look like?" Dante asked eagerly.

Will thought about this for a moment, his eyes glancing over to Scorpius for a bit as he pondered. "No…" He replied slowly and then smirked, "If you must, think of it as a game: can you guess my real shape?"

Dante scoffed, "And you thought you'd be a Gryffindor." He murmured.


End file.
